Geneva shakes off slow start to win at DeKalb
With a bright and early start time, it took the Geneva boys basketball team a little while to get over the post-Christmas festivities.
Winless Belvidere North drilled 5 first half 3-pointers to stay within 24-19, but the Vikings executed better on both ends of the floor in the second half to pull away for a 54-30 opening round win Saturday in the Chuck Dayton Holiday Classic in DeKalb.
The Vikings (8-2), who defeated Belvidere North 67-37 in the Crystal Lake Central Thanksgiving Tournament, dominated inside with a commanding 33-12 edge on the boards and outscored the Blue Thunder 38-10 in the paint.
“We haven't done anything for two full days and we've been eating a bunch of food. It showed in the first half — it was tough,” said Geneva junior Cole Navigato, who collected 6 points and 5 rebounds.
“We didn't come out shooting very well, but we changed our philosophy and we really wanted to put up the pressure with our press and we wanted to really attack them on the inside,” said Geneva coach Phil Ralston. “I thought we did a much better job in the second half.”
As leading scorer Bennett Fuzak remains out of the lineup after suffering a concussion just over two weeks ago, Geneva has been relying on scoring by committee.
Junior Drew Klaus went 4-for-4 from the field to finish with a team-high 10 points and 6 rebounds. Dominic Navigato, Brandon Schleicher and Zachary Samples chipped in 8 points apiece.
“If someone asks me who's your go-to guy right now with Bennett out, we don't have one,” Ralston said. “We've had different guys who have stepped up and made contributions. To me all that matters is that we play our brand of basketball and take good shots.”
Geneva broke out to a 10-3 lead in the first six minutes, but Belvidere North (0-10) put together a 14-6 run behind four 3-pointers to move in front 17-16.
Samples, Schleicher and Matt Johnston scored in transition off Blue Thunder turnovers to restore a 24-17 Vikings' lead.
“The first three shots they put in were uncontested shots,” Ralston said. “We were kind of gambling to go for a steal and that left someone to have to rotate over and help. Then we didn't close out on the shooter. We told them at halftime that we needed to close the casino because they're too young to gamble.”
The Vikings picked apart the Blue Thunder's zone in the second half. They outscored them 13-4 in the third quarter before ripping off the first 11 points of the fourth.
“We got more aggressive, ran our sets, and drove the lane more,” Cole Navigato said.
The Vikings will face Ridgewood in Monday's 4:45 p.m. quarterfinals. The Rebels (4-4) knocked off Eisenhower 61-55.